The Future
by VixL
Summary: Claire Young gets told about imprinting, her imprintee, and the existence of the supernatural world on her eighteenth birthday. ONESHOT. Complete.


**AN: Purely fanbased. I own nothing. All rights go to Stephenie Meyer, who created the Twilight franchise.**

Mate for life.  
Soul mate.  
Eternal slave.  
Destiny.  
Fate/Nature.  
Wolf wife.

I scratch out what I have written in my notebook. Science class continues to go on in front of me. My teacher, Mrs. Alcatraz, has put on some documentary describing the future and what it might mean.

I am not really paying attention. Although I should be since Science is one of the courses I constantly fail. Alongside Mathematics. But my mind keeps dancing back to thoughts about last night.

Where, for my eighteenth birthday, I was finally told something that I never thought I would ever hear.

Vampires=Real as real=Actual creatures that can suck your blood and kill you  
Werewolves=Real as real=Actual people in my family and my friends who can change into gigantic dogs  
Supernatural world=Real as real=Maybe I'll find out I'm part witch or shaman or something. Get magical powers and be able to give myself A's for my last semester. And graduate valedictorian by June .

I should do my actual math homework. Which my teacher last period decided to assign me as extra work for talking to my friends while he was giving his lesson.

But I never do my math homework before I get home. Because Quil usually...

God. Quil.

Quil=

What does Quil equal?

Before last night I probably would have wrote: _Quil=one of my uncles as one of my uncles=My favorite uncle._

But now...

I don't know.

I feel like one of those kids that are told they're adopted.

My life is out of whack right now.

I put down my pencil and try to pay attention to the screen in front of me. Anything to get my mind off of thinking about...well, my reality.

But what is on the screen doesn't help me at all. Two wolves are shown side by side.

"Jesus!" I exclaim despite myself.

I am as surprised as if I had open the refrigerator and found one of Quil's many pranks waiting for me.

"What? You don't like wolves?" My seatmate asks from beside me at my reaction.

I feel my face heat up.

"N-no I do," I whisper back,"I just don't see what they have to do with a documentary about the future"

"Weren't you paying attention? They're doing a study on wolves, because they apparently have the ability to sense things. See a glimpse of the future. Almost like a psychic connection to the world," My peer explains to me.

"Oh," I say.

On the walk home from my school's basketball game, I think about the word imprinting.

"I'm sure you guys will have a relationship like your Aunt Emily and Uncle Sam. They're imprints, too," My mom had said to me last night as I sat down on her bed,"Just try not to overdo it in the baby department like they did. Two grankids from you and two from your sister will be plenty enough for me"

I'd never felt more awkward. It was like the time her and Auntie Em decided to tell me about the birds and the bees.

 _"But you're a growing woman now. And I'm sure you're starting to wonder about things like sex and boys..."_

God!

Yeah, Mom. I was wondering about sex and boys but not enough for you to give me a two hour lecture about it. She said a lot of things that I didn't need to know.

Meanwhile, Aunt Em had just sat there with an amused, I-feel-your-pain expression on her face. Then, when my mom was done talking, Aunt Emily told me the stuff that I probably did need to know. Things like condoms and sexually transmitted diseases. And it was all in Aunt Em's calm, collected way.

Not at all like my mom's raunchy explanation of male genitalia sizes and where and where not to let some guy put his "joy stick" in me.

I still cringe thinking about that day.

When I finally get home, I see my mom sitting down at the TV with my younger sister Kat.

They're watching some reality television show together. Kat got to stay home from school this week because she came down with some kind of bug.

I put my things in my room, then go into the kitchen, make a bowl of chips, and grab sodas for us to drink. I head back into the living room and sit down on top of Kat's feet while I put what I've prepared on the small table for everyone to grab.

"Mom!" Kat whines,"Claire's sitting on me! Get off! You're blocking my view! Sit on the floor!"

I ignore her and instead stretch out on our small, dingy couch to curl up by her side. She's wrapped in old, quilt blankets that my grandmother made for us when we were younger. And her black hair is out and her face is red. Even her body feels warm when I place my face near her's and rub my cheek with hers.

"I missed my little sister," I say.

"Oh God! Stop! Mom!" Kat coma plains.

I look over her shoulder at the plastic trash bag and rolls of toilet paper she has lying on the floor. The house phone is also directly next to her, because Mom won't buy her one and she's too young to get a job to get her own. And too lazy, too if she could.

"Ewww, Kat," I say when I see all the used tissues she has in her bag,"That's disgusting"

"See, you'll get my germs! Now sit on the floor!" Kat barks,"I'm sick! I deserve the couch all to myself! Mom, tell her!"

But Mom is too busy watching the TV. And she ignores our bickering like she always does.

I take out my cell phone really quick and take a selfie of us. Kat doesn't react in time, but still manages to put her hand up a little before I can get the full image of her face.

"Claire! Mom!" Kat whines in full effect now,"Make her stop bothering me!"

The show must have went to commercial, because my mom reaches over from her recliner and grabs a handful of chips with one hand while opening up a soda with the other.

"Claire, stop messing with Kat. If you keep acting like you are, you really will get sick. Go ahead and sit on the floor, now. You're sister was there first," Mom says through a mouthful of munching.

"She has an unfair advantage!" I accuse.

Mom rolls her eyes.

"Ok! Ok!" I say and I get up off of Kat and slide down to the floor.

I grab a handful of chips and stuff them into my mouth.

"Thanks for welcoming me home, guys," I say pointedly,"I can tell you really missed me"

Mom laughs.

"The house was nice and quiet and then you had to come along," Mom teases.

I grin.

"How was the game?" She asks.

"Boring. We lost," I say.

Mom shakes her head.

"I wish I could have gone," Kat complains.

Mom shoots her a look as if to say there was no possible way she could have gone to the game the way she is.

"How was your day at school?" Mom asks.

I shrug.

"It was school," I say," Mr. Cohen assigned me extra work for talking in class. I'm just glad it's the weekend"

Mom shakes her head at me.

"You better do that work, too, Claire, before you decide do anything else this weekend," She says and I can feel a lecture coming on.

I wish I had kept my big mouth closed about telling her what happened with my day.

"I know, I know, I know," I say and glance at the TV,"Ohmygod! Is that Jessica and Riley in a fight?!"

It works. And my mom's attention is back on the television screen.

Kat kicks my back with her foot.

"Hand me a soda," She says.

"Get your own," I tell her as I whip out my cell phone and look through my messages.

"I'm sick," She whines.

"It's three inches away," I retort.

"Please?"

I groan and grab a soda. It isn't a big deal, we both know that. But we like to play around. It's how we show our love for one another. I even open the soda for her.

Kat takes it and sips it. 

It's ginger ale. I picked it specially because that seems to be the drink everyone has when they're sick.

"Thank you," She says and places it by her side with all her other things that she has to have nearby.

The phone rings and instantly her hand goes for it and she answers without thinking.

"Hello?"

I swear my sister lives for talking on the phone to her friends.

I tune her out and focus on texting back one of my friends that wants to know if I am going to have an actual party for my birthday. Seeing as though it occurred on the weekday when we had to go to school.

"Hi, Quil!"

My hand literally freezes over the buttons on my phone and my eyes dart to Kat's face.

"No, she's still sick"

My heartbeat returns back to normal.

"No, I'm not sure. Yeah, Mom still doesn't want anyone to visit her yet. Yeah, I know. Yeah, her phone's still broken. She hasn't been able to go get it fixed. No, it's okay. Yeah, I have it, too. I know! Don't I sound like a man? Uh huh. Uh huh...Yeah...Ok. She's been asleep all day," Kat winks at me,"I'll tell her to call you when she wakes up. Uh huh. Love you, too. Bye"

Kat puts down the phone. She looks a little disappointed that it wasn't one of her friends calling her. I know she's going crazy just staying in the house, lying on the couch, and watching TV all day. But it kind of works out in my favor, because I have someone that can be my minion.

I stopped answering text messages from Quil last night. Ever since my mom decided to tell me about...well, everything. At first, I thought she had been joking with me. She is my mom after all. And I know she can be a little...off sometimes. But she assured me that she wasn't lying when she told me to remember something that I had seen as a child, but that she had always rejected as a dream whenever I would mention it to her. So much so that I had suppressed the memory.

But now I can recall it as clear as if it had happened yesterday.

My Uncle Sam turning into a gigantic wolf before my eyes.

Kat still doesn't know the truth. Or why I am avoiding Quil.

I just told her that I didn't feel like talking to him for awhile. So, she'd have to cover for me. Which isn't unusual. A lot of times all of us don't want to talk to certain family members or friends.

 _"If they come to the door, say I'm not here"_ __

 _"If they ask why I didn't come, say it's because I wasn't feeling well"_ _  
_  
We Young women do this a lot here at Makah Rez. And a place as small as this...with a total of about 1,079 people...all of which we've known at birth and see constantly at around the Rez, at school, tribal events, and tribal meetings...half of which we are related to either by blood or marriage...well, it only means that there is drama at some point or time.

So much that we don't even need a reason to not want to deal with somebody. The simple excuse of,"I'm just tired of always seeing their face" will suffice. And no one can argue with that excuse.

We don't really get out much here. And the only things to do, well we've all done them a hundred million times before. I'm eighteen years old and I feel like I'm an elderly, retired woman living here in Washington. Life is that predictable.

...Or at least I thought it was. But I never imagined this kind of surprise.

Thank God Quil lives on the Quileute Rez...or else I'm sure he would have poked his head here the minute he heard I was 'sick'.

I'm not surprised he hasn't shown up, though. I mean, it doesn't take all that long to get from Quileute to Makah. He knows I am avoiding him. And I am not sure how long he'll let my excuses of not seeing him go on.

Although I don't think he knows that I have been enlightened on what majority of the people I know on the Quileute Rez are or are apart of. This huge secret that everyone's kept from me for my entire life.

But that's not even the most craziest part.

The part that scares me the most is...

 **Imprint**

Why the hell am I typing that word to my friend?! I delete the word and shake my head. I send what I wanted to send and then stand up.

Kat seems to notice that my demeanor has changed.

"Aren't you going to watch TV with us?" She whines.

"No, I'm tired," I say.

She props herself up on her elbow, probably the most movement she's done all day besides blow her nose, eat, and wait for the phone to ring. Which means that she's worried about me.

"Did you want to talk to Quil? I thought you said-" She starts to say but I cut her off.

"It's not that Kit Kat," I say as I walk over and kiss her forehead,"I just had a long day at school"

She seems to believe me.

"Okay," She says and then adds,"When I get better I'm going to go shop for your birthday present"

As if I'm mad at her over this.

I give her a smile.

"Okay. I want to go shopping for a new outfit," I tell her.

"Okay," She says with a smile,"I have enough allowance for that. And we can go see a movie in Port Angeles with the babysitting money I got from Aunt Em for watching the twins"

I nod my head. and stroke her hair.

"Okay," I say.

She beams up at me with a bright smile.

"Goodnight," She tells me.

"Goodnight"

I am in my room and bed within ten minutes.

But I don't fall asleep yet. Instead my mind is still on last night.

Usually, I would have my birthday celebration as a big party on First beach with my family, extended family, and friends. We would have a bonfire and grill food.

But as I got older, I no longer wanted to celebrate my birthday the traditional way. Instead opting to spend my big day going out with my friends or planning a trip somewhere with them.

And now look. Eighteen years old. What did I do? Get slapped upside the head with new facts about life. And it is bothering me so much that I can't even think straight.

I close my eyes. And I dream about the future. All I see in it is wolves and more wolves.

When I wake up, it is morning.

As I try to sit up, my head pounds. So, I instantly lay back down again.

"Claire! Guess what! I'm-" Kat bursts into my room. And she is dressed and looks ten times better than what I feel.

"Ohmygod!" She cries when she sees me.

I must look like shit, because she scrunches up her nose. She places her lips to my forehead. Then lifts her face back.

"Mom!" She screams and her voice sounds like a thousand bells going off in my ears,"Claire's sick!"

My mom puts me on bed rest.

I'm not sick like Kat was. I don't sneeze or feel an upset stomach. Instead everything just hurts. My head hurts. My body hurts.

"I don't know what it is," My mom says with a shake of her head,"I can't tell you what's wrong with you, Claire Bear. I guess I'll just get you some aspirin"

Kat stands by my door looking guilty. As if it is all her fault that I'm not feeling well.

And I decide to tease her, because even though everything hurts, I can still make my mouth move. I am Claire Young after all.

"You did this to me," I joke.

"I told you not to get close to me!" Kat snaps,"You did this to yourself! So, you better get comfortable"

She goes out of my room and comes back with a plastic bag, rolls of tissue, the house phone, and a can of ginger ale. She places all of these items on the dresser beside my bed.

She goes back out and comes into my room with her hands behind her back.

I eye her suspiciously.

She sits down on my bed at my side.

"I'm really sorry, Claire that you caught my germs," She says seriously.

"It's okay," I tell her.

"What's behind your back?"

Before I can protest, she stands up and flashes a picture of me with a camera that Aunt Em and Uncle Sam bought her for Christmas.

"Kat!" I scream.

And she runs out of my room and slams the door behind her. I can hear her laughter all the way down the hall.

"Get some rest!" I hear her call.

Ughh...

I wake up to the feeling of someone rubbing my forehead. It reminds me of when I was younger. It was the only way I could fall asleep.

I don't see who it is. Instead, it does the trick just as if I were three years old again. And I'm back in my dream world.

I dream about being a wolf. And I see another wolf in front of me. Something weird happens. Everything gets all fuzzy and...I don't know...but it's like premonition or tunnel vision. But I feel connected to this wolf. I take a step close to him and stand beside him. I know who he is.

 _"Wolves have an ability to sense things. Almost like a psychic connection to the world"_

I open my eyes and see Quil's face.

"Omygod!" I jolt upright.

I no longer feel sick or in pain.

Instead I feel shocked that the one person I was dreaming about happens to be right in front of me.

Quil's sitting on the floor by my bed.

"You seem to be feeling better if you can move like that," He says.

I feel my face heat up.

"Y-yeah. I wasn't feeling good these last two days, but I feel better now," I say.

Quil smiles. 

"Happy belated birthday," He says and reaches out a hand to give me a present wrapped in shiny, pink paper,"I'm sorry I couldn't give this to you sooner, but...well, you were sick"

I take the present and set it down.

"Thanks," I say.

I can't meet his eyes.

He sighs. And runs a hand over his face.

"God," He mutters,"I didn't think it was going to be like this"

My heart pounds in my chest.

"Claire...we need to talk," Quil says,"You're mom told me that she told you about...well, everything"

I cover my hands over my ears.

"I really don't need any more lectures," I say.

Quil gives me a long look.

And I take my hands off my ears.

"I'm serious, Claire. I don't know what she told you, but I just want you to know that it doesn't change anything between us. I'm still your Uncle Quil and you're still my Claire Bear," He says,"The imprinting aspect of our relationship...it's a bond. Not anything more or anything less. I love you just like I love Kat, except if anything were to happen to you..."

He lets his eyes go down to the ground and he shakes his head.

His eyes suddenly light back up, "Remember Chiara?"

I nod my head. And I feel myself get sad despite not wanting to. Chiara was the pet hamster Quil had bought me for my tenth birthday. I had kept her for three years until she died.

"And remember how you felt when Chiara passed away and your mom bought you Mr. G?" He asks.

I nod my head again. Although I liked the new hamster my mom had bought me and even came to love him, it was nothing compared to how I had felt about Chiara.

"Well, that's how imprinting works," Quil explains,"I'm going to always be here to protect you, take care of you, love you, and support you"

"Even when you ignore me," He says with a smirk and I look away, " You're the most important person in the world to me"

I feel tears well up in my eyes.

"Why'd you have to bring up Chi?!" I cry and I throw myself into Quil's arms.

He chuckles and strokes my hair. Just like he always does when I'm upset.

But I'm not crying about my hamster. I'm crying because I'm happy that I somewhat understand whatever it is that Quil and I are.

"I'm sure Emily can explain it a lot better than I or your mom can," Quil says. He knows why I'm really crying, too.

I nod my head and break away from him. I give him a small smile and then look at the present that I still haven't opened.

I pick it up and smile at him.

"What's in it?" I ask.

He grins.

"Please, don't let it be a snake!" I say but it feels flat.

I tear the paper off and open the lid to the box. Inside is a picture frame with photos of me, my family, and friends.

I hold it up and stare at the pictures. Some are of when I was very young. Some in the present.

I stare at a recent photo of Quil and I. We are side by side at First beach. And there is another just like it when I was at least three or four years old.

I'm not sure what it all means.

Or if it means anything at all.

I guess we'll see in the future. 

**AN: When I have Claire write "Uncle" I imagine that she would have grown up calling all the pack members that are older than her "Uncle". Even though she isn't directly related to some of them, but they all still probably share a family type of bond.**


End file.
